Rikard Holmdahl is a Professor at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and Turku University, Finland. He holds a Ph.D. from Uppsala University. Prior to joining Karolinska Institutet Professor Holmdahl was a Professor at Lund University. His work has been published in a number of leading academic journals, including Nature Genetics, PNAS, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Arthritis & Rheumatism.

The research of Professor Holmdahl focuses on basic mechanisms of inflammation that govern chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, MS, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis. This is research that straddles basic research and clinical research. Genetic variations can increase the susceptibility to these types of diseases are investigated. Moreover, the research group of Professor Holmdahl has discovered a genetic variant that increases the production of free radicals. The hypothesis is that this could reduce inflammation.